Practicing Your Karaoke at Home - Part 1

I mentioned in a another article, "contest". Karaoke contests are becoming more and more popular around the country, especially with the popularity of shows on TV like "American Idol", and "Don't Forget The Lyrics!" In fact, I was recently asked to be a judge for a some local contests that had a "Idol" like format where a panel of three judges would offer comments and score the performer. Many people are starting to see what they do for fun, as a possible way to make a little extra cash. Even if they don't do it for the money, they are doing it because they believe that they have what it takes to compete.

But if you're going to enter a contest, now you are going to have to take an honest look at what you are doing. And you really need to consider practicing. I know, nobody likes to practice; well not that much. Although, I sort of enjoy practicing my singing. But now is the time to start putting a little more effort in to your performing. You need to start practicing some of the fundamentals. Because the only way you are going to achieve any consistent, predictable results in any activity, is to reinforce those fundamental skills and strive to make them more of an automatic reflex. Now I'm not saying that this needs to take over your life, but start to set aside some time to practice your karaoke at home, or in the car while you're driving. And what better way to spend a warm Sunday afternoon than sipping on a tall glass of iced tea in between songs.

I also said that you need to take an "honest" look at yourself and what you are doing. The reason I say that is that you need to see and hear yourself as the judges are going to see you. In fact, now would probably be a good time to record a song or two so you can hear how you sound to every one else. And if you have a video camera at home, you might even want to video yourself performing your song. Short of that, many karaoke bars and venues are starting to offer Video Karaoke at their shows, where they will record your performance for you. The only problem with a video recording is that it usually doesn't give you a very good audio reproduction. In this case you should also try to get a separate, higher quality audio recording of your song, either with your home karaoke system or in a professional recording studio. Either way you will be able to get a truer representation of how you actually sound.

By getting a recording of yourself you can now hear and/or see some things that may need some work. Be critical of yourself so you can identify those things that are detracting from your performance. Identify these things and understand them, because numerous hours practicing bad habits, will only reinforce those bad habits. And by entering a contest you saying that you are now wanting to step up and out of mediocre-ville. Try to downplay the bad and encourage the good. By practicing you can isolate specific muscle behaviors to make them more reflexive. Strive to be perfect in your repetitions of form and function and you will be inspired by the results. It is very much like target practice. The more times you take that shot, more times it will hit the bull's-eye.

For more on Practicing see "Practicing Your Karaoke At Home - Part 2".